Back in August, AOL laid off nearly 400 people with the hopes of downsizing the company enough to prevent a disastrous fourth quarter. Prior to that, in May, about 40 employees - many of them managers of various regions - were also laid off.

Patch did not acknowledge the layoffs on it's Twitter account today, but former editor-in-chief Brian Farnham mentioned the situation on his Facebook page.

"To all my friends and former colleagues at Patch who lost their jobs today: you're in my thoughts. Feel like I've had to post a message like this too often over last year or so," Farnham said. "At the risk of repeating myself: everyone who worked at Patch who believed in it and sweated blood for it is a pioneer who should be extremely proud of themselves. What you did inevitably shaped the way local and digital news will be produced and executed ever after"